Closer ties to firms, tourism on agenda
BY JOHN P. MCDERMOTT
Of The Post and Courier Staff
A group of South Carolina jobs-creation officials, led by Gov. Mark Sanford, are leaving next week for an extended business trip to several European countries, primarily to strengthen ties with some of the state's major foreign-owned employers as well as to promote tourism.
State Commerce Secretary Bob Faith said he leaves Wednesday for Germany, and Sanford is scheduled to join him Saturday in Munich, where they will sit down with BMW executives and attend a reception sponsored by an Upstate-based business recruiting organization.
Sanford and Faith also have arranged to meet with the top executives from several other South Carolina employers on their home turf, including France-based tire manufacturer Michelin and the Swiss parent of pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-LaRoche.
The group returns to South Carolina on June 25.
"The governor hopes to spend time with companies that have a substantial investment presence in South Carolina, thank them for their business and explore options to continue those successful relationships," Sanford spokesman Will Folks said Friday.
Sanford also plans to seek input from the executives he visits about the state's efforts to build job clusters around certain existing high-paying industries, such as automotives and pharmaceuticals.
That strategy goes to the heart of a new economic development plan that South Carolina adopted last December.
The governor will be wearing his salesman's hat as well.
In Stuttgart, for instance, Sanford will be delivering the key-note address at a conference of automotive suppliers who are interested in expanding into the North American market.
Also, he plans to "sit down for personal conversations" with business prospects that the state is now courting, according to a statement from the Commerce Department.
Of those companies, two are manufacturers that are considering investing in the Charleston area.
While in Germany, Sanford also will be promoting the state as a visitor destination, along with Chad Prosser, the head of the Department of Parks & Recreation & Tourism.
"We're going to do couple of events while the governor is over there with the media and with folks in the trade who specialize in travel to the U.S. and in golf, which is obviously one of our biggest markets," Prosser said Friday.
Germany is the state's third-largest source of international visitors, behind Canada and the United Kingdom.
Unlike the Commerce Department's trade mission to Asia last year, Faith said he does not expect Sanford to make any job or capital investment announcements while in Europe.
But taking a cue from their trip to Asia, they will once again share hotel rooms to minimize travel costs.
"Can't wait to get back with my roommate," Faith said.
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